Day 57 and Day 58

Well, as Florian and Hans were fixing all the error messages on my computer yesterday I never got around to blogging, so I am making it up today!

Day 57 - Saturday
We stayed local today. In the morning Dinphy and I left the kids with Hans and Florian and went shopping (we got the boys another carnival costume, and some more food!). In the afternoon we all went out for a walk over the fields. We saw the bonfire, someone was there putting more wood on it so it is getting bigger and bigger! And then we went to see the horses and ponies.
In the evening we all went to Chinese Restaurant, and the kids were on their best behaviour maybe the fresh air had worn them all out, or was it because we had them on their own table?
It was only spoilt by Richard crying all the way home, because he had wanted to be in Dinphy's car with Lisa, and he was in ours!

Day 58 - Sunday

It's Sunday, of course we went ot the bakers!We all had a great breakfast, time and then lunch. Then after the bakers we went home and changed the kids into their costumes - they were all little indians!

And then it was time to go to a children's carnival party! My boys didn't look like they were enjoying themselves to start with, and try as Lisa might, she could not get either of the boys to dance with her - I did though!
Eventually they did a conga and all of the kids went off and joined init went well for a few rounds and then we had to split Robert and Richard, Robert didn't want Richard's hands on his shoulders and Richard was not happy about it!
After that Robert did eventually dance with Lisa and he had a great time. Richard took a bit longer, but he did dance with us in the end!

I cooked for tea today (Sausages, Mash, red cabbage, peas and fried eggs(from our chickens)) Then the kids went to bed all worn out!
And I have been writing this post for about 2 hours now, so if it reads all funny, sorry I was a bit distracted! ;o)
CU tomorrow

Day 56

Busy busy day today. First bathrooms, then Katrin dropped off her youngest son for me to babysit. He was as good as gold, except when he emptied the Bingo out, the pair of us then had to sit and sort all the little numbers and pieces out! Kept us out of mischief!

When they had gone again, Florian put up our little shelf we bought at IKEA last week, now we just need to decide on pictures for the frames.After lunch Florian supervised Robert's homework, whilst I went shopping!
Then back home more tidying up and washing, at 5pm I decided now was a good time for the shower I should have had in the morning, good job I went then, cause not long after that, the doorbell rang! And Dinphy, Hans, Tommie and Lisa were here!!!
The kids again got on really really well, and at bedtime it was storytime all together. So cute!I am going to keep it short today, we have some catching up to do!
CU tomorrow

This is bedtime - storytime

Day 55

The weather is very strange at the moment, this morning we didn't need our snowsuits, it had "warmed" up a LOT - it was "only" -1°C this morning, and after the temperatures for the last couple of days it really felt warm!

English lesson this morning, which meant today I walked there and back to Kindergarden 3 times! That will burn some calories!
Before and after the English lesson I did a lot of tidying and putting away, ready for our visitors tomorrow! Woohoo only ONE MORE SLEEP!

After homework we tried to tidy up the ministeck, we do have a LOT of ministeck, and ended up sorting it all into new containers, still need two boxes as well though, but we are getting there. Then we played Bingo, this time Robert was the caller, he did really well!And speaking of Robert doing really well. They wrote a German test at school this week, and Robert got 29 out of 29.5 points! We're so proud of him!

This evening I did a lot of printing out, I have made a few bits for Kindergarden. Chatted on Skype to Dinphy and Mum and then at 10.30pm the doorbell rang, I wondered what was going on, but when I got to the door it was opening. Florian is home early. He has a really bad cold (and no voice!) and is going to the doctor tomorrow. Even though it is not a good reason to be home early, I'm pleased and I know I will have really excited boys tomorrow!

CU then and Dinphy, we really will!!!

Day 54

I was a busy girl this morning, well til Katrin and Sabine popped in for a coffee (cocoa)! Today I had decided was the day that the boys and I got back into the swing of walking to the busstop and Kindergarden, I think I picked the coldest morning of the year so far! It was -13°C, but this time I did notice before we had to leave home, so I had Robert wearing Long John's and Richard and I put our snow trousers on, it was still cold though, but good for us!

When I got back, I cleaned the kitchen floor and then I went shopping whilst it was drying. I was back by 9.15am and then finished tidying up the kitchen. Katrin and Sabine dropped by at 10.30am and we had a lovely chat!

I walked to pick up Richard at Kindergarden, so it looks like we are back on track! But it looks like it will be snow trousers for a while, at least at the busstop.

In the afternoon my sister in law brought her girls around for me to look after whilst she had a parents teacher afternoon/evening.
This is Richard waiting for them, he got a bit bored looking out the window and thought he would let Teddy try his glasses on!The girls played really well with the boys. Here is the youngest and the boys playing ministeck, whilst the elder two were in the kitchen doing homework.(note, I had just cleared all the ministeck nicely away...waste of time that was!)
The girls were picked up at 9pm and I have been relaxing since. Tomorrow's English lesson will be revision as I have nothing new prepared for them, but I think they will have fun!
CU tomorrow

Day 53

Work, so nothing to report about this morning - no- not true, it was even more freezing than yesterday! It was -12°C at the busstop, but with the added windchill it was -15°C so so cold! Dinphy don't forget your hats, or I'll make you wear my yellow one again! ;o)This is the boys this evening, with a cheese grin frozen to their faces! :o)

This afternoon somehow seems like we only did homework, mmh how did that happen. Probably cause the boys played upstairs longer than they usually did. Whilst Robert was doing his homework Richard and I played with something I found whilst looking for my ministeck. Anyone remember "rotadraw" - they are stencils with a difference. You pin them to the paper, mark No.1 and then whilst turning and drawing you get a picture. We got some fish, a budgie, Mickey Mouse, Pluto and Dougal. The boys both thought it was great fun, I'll try and get a picture tomorrow so you know what I am talking about.

At 5pm we went out to enroll the boys in a climbing course. I told the boys that they only let good boys take part, so they were on their best behaviour there - phew. I was supposed to go without them, but my babysitters were all out this afternoon!
So next Friday (4th) they start their climbing lessons. I hope to get a couple of pictures at some point in their course! We'll see

Now I am going to scrap some, I have a couple of weeks of P365 to catch up with, but I'm still going strong!
CU tomorrow (3 more sleeps!)

Day 50, Day 51 and Day 52

I took the weekend off! We went to stay at Mum and Dad's and I went without my laptop, didn't want to get too jealous of Dad's new DSL 16000!!!

Day 50 - Saturday
The boys were up early as usual, but they let Florian and I have a bit of a lay in. When we did come down, and we didn't let them play on the Wii, they were a bit put out, but got out the Ministeck to play with. I went into the barn to see if I couldn't find my old sets, cause I thought they might have easier pictures to do. And I did find them!! the boys were over the moon with them, and took one box with them to Nanna's.
We drove to Mum and Dad's after lunch. And when we got there we left the boys with Mum and Dad and went to IKEA to buy some new kitchen chairs. We had a very relaxing walk through IKEA, I was surprised that there wasn't more people there. We got 6 new chairs a little shelf for in the new hall, some candles and some picture frames. It filled the car, good job we left the kids with my parents.
In the evening we all went to the restaurant and my brother and family joined us (minus Mia she was staying at a friends). Whilst there a evening carnival procession went past, here are the kids watching it out of the window!
Day 51 - Sunday
Gardetag - carnival day. We all went to the big procession in town this afternoon. I hadn't reckoned on it being quite so cold, so we had to improvise before we went out. The poor boys had to wear nylon tights! But at least they weren't too cold whilst we were out.
Here are the boys waiting for the parade to startand here we all are stood watching

Day 52 - Monday
Work in the morning, and a busy afternoon. First I had to go to Kindergarden for a meeting, the kids got to play with their friends and I found out that this year we will all be going on an outing, the kids will all love that. And the weekend before easter, we have to organise a big event in the next village along - that will keep us all busy!
I had to leave early so who knows what else we might be doing, we left because the boys had their first cheap swimming lesson. We had never been to the pool before, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. Whilst the boys were having their lessons the water actually beckoned me to go in...so I did...and beforehand I was making sure I didn't need to go in with the boys. Well I went swimming and did 14 laps! But I do now know about it, my arms are already aching. Maybe after the boys 10 weeks of swimming lessons, I'll be fitter and won't feel it so much...that is my plan!

I took a picture of one of our new chairs this evening, there is a slight fault on 3 out of the four that Florian built, so we are not quite sure how we are going to solve this. We'll see!Anyhow I'll see you tomorrow and only 4 more sleeps!! woohoo!!!

Day 49

Got some pampering this morning! I was in desparate need of a visit to the hairdresser - I was no longer just grey but WHITE! But now I am young again! Phew! After that it was off to my parent association meeting (Kindergarden) - which other people would call "breakfast" and a chat! It was a lovely morning, and then my mobile rung! No, not as bad as it sounds, but it was school calling, Robert had a really bad cough and could they send him home on the next bus? His last lesson would have been sport, not a clever idea, when you can't stop coughing.
I left my breakfast and met him at the busstop. He got off the bus and was coughing, and me, being me, said "OK, I hear you, you've got a cough, you can stop now" and I swear, he never coughed all afternoon! mmh, very strange, but if that is the right medicine, its nice and cheap!

Posty bought all of us a surprise today, a photobook for me and "The Wishing Chair" for the boys. Richard was so excited. He sat straight down with it at the table as if he was about to read it himself, he looked all the way through it, so cute!
So after Robert had finished his homework, we started it and read 3 chapters straight off.
When Florian got home, Richard and Robert nearly had a fight over who got to show Daddy their new book, I grabbed a camera!After that we all sat down and looked at our 2009 photobook! We all love it! And now we are going to watch 24...
CU tomorrow

Day 48

I took my car in to be mended this morning, I took it to the car wash first though, imagine if they had put the new bumper on I would have been complaining about the colour difference! I waited whilst they did it, took about an hour. From there it was almost straight to Kindergarden, for English lessons. And did my kids know their body parts - NO! They could sing the song and do all the actions, but if you then asked "Show me your nose" they hadn't got a clue! Even "Show me your head" got no reaction. Mmh I think next week we will try something different and then come back to body parts! Still I still had fun with them, and they loved the little booklet I made for them!

This afternoon after homework, Robert went to play with an old friend from Kindergarden, and he walked there on his own (they live by the busstop). His friends Mum phoned when he got there, so I knew he was safe. My boy is growing up!!

Richard and I then set off for the doctors. It was his 5 year check up, to see if he is developing as he should be - and yes he is. As we were there, I asked about his skin, it is always so dry and really sore. She said, that basically he just has VERY sensitive skin. She said it was good that I had stopped using softener, and that now I just need to keep trying to find a cream that agrees with him. She said to try vaseline to start with, well we have that at home, so he is now covered in that, and I'm hoping!
(we also have to go back to the urologist, but I am not sure he'd want me writing that on here...!)

We didn't get back from the doctors til 6.40pm and then we had a really quick tea and the boys were in bed by 7.15pm! Not bad, eh?
And as I hadn't taken a picture all day, I just snuck into their bedroom and got the sleeping beauties. I might need these pictures tomorrow (its a full moon) to remind me that they can be little angels too!!CU tomorrow

Day 47

Today was library day, it was great fun, as always all the kids were excited to be there, the higher classes cause they get a break from their real lesson and the youngsters, cause they get to choose a new book! Robert chose one about a witch and her tricks, we read some this evening before bedtime.

This afternoon Katrin popped around, she has some really tough thread and a special sewing kit, so she said she would re-stitch my handbag strap. All done now, so my camera is safe again when I go shopping! After that we took all the kids out to ride their bikes in the sunshine, Robert fell off of his and never got back on, he just ran around then!And I spent this evening making the kindergarden kids a new English booklet about the song "Head, shoulders, knees and toes", tomorrow I will find out, if any of them actually remember what we learnt last week, I have this strange feeling that they don't! We'll see!
CU tomorrow

Day 46

I think I wore myself out at work today, I had a legal document that needed translating and "legal talk" in any language is difficult to understand let alone translate! But I did it!

This afternoon after homework - look at them both doing their "homework" Robert's is real, and Richard gives himself his own assignments. And look even the cat had to be in on the fun too!Anyhow after homework, we went into town and got Richard a new pair of slippers for Kindergarden. He has a very inbetween shoe size at the minute, so it won't be long before he outgrows his new pair, but I couldn't wait, his toes are already peeping through the ones at Kindergarden!
We also stopped at Aldi for some bread, came out with a full trolley though. And the boys chose themselves a new book each. Richard has a Garfield comic book and Robert got a book about nature, as soon as we got in he started reading it to me! It's so great that he loves to read now!
And talking about books, poor Richard.
Tonight at bedtime we finished reading "The Faraway Tree" (Enid Blyton). They were excited to finish it, or so I thought. I put them to bed, and about 10 minutes later, sobbing from the bedroom. Richard was inconsolable, we'd finished his favourite book ever, and he was going to miss his friends in there. It was so cute, touching and brilliant all at the same time. I am so thrilled that the magic of the book caught him, and triggered his imagination - I hope it is the beginning of a very long friendship with books.
I was up with him 3 times altogether and I think he may well have cried himself to sleep, poor thing. But he is now looking forward to Posty delivering "The Wishing Chair" another Enid Blyton classic.
CU tomorrow

Day 45

I was on my own at work today, my colleague/friend is ill (I'll be on my own tomorrow), so nothing to report about work.
This afternoon the boys stayed upstairs until 3.30pm today playing, so they can play without me, they just choose not to, if I am around.
We then did homework. Robert did maths and reading and Richard drew a picture and tried some writing, and I unpacked and packed the dishwasher! Then we played Ministeck, and I got a couple of pictures of the boys playing it. Robert thought it was best if I looked at the instructions and told him which pieces we needed and where to put them, but I have to admit, determining which of the black pieces was which on the instructions. So far we have one ear of the upper cat done...Richard had his own plans for his bits of ministeck....

Oh and I ordered another photo book today, yep at the weekend I sorted through my 2009 blog posts and got all the pictures into a 2009 book - hopefully it will come by the weekend!

CU tomorrow

Day 44

A stay at home Sunday today - yep really, no bakers! I wanted to cook a complete Jamie Oliver meal, and as I wanted to do it lunch time it meant no bakers. Florian took a picture of me just starting off my round of cooking (the mixer is making the meringue)but I forgot to get any pictures of the finished meal, and it looked nearly as good as the pictures in Jamie Oliver's book! ;o) (I made Wonky Summer Pasta from the 30 Minute Cook book).
We all enjoyed the meal, the kids didn't tuck in as well as we did, but it was new and they are often a bit sceptical!

This afternoon Florian took the boys out on their bikes and after about an hour I went and joined them and we walked up the hill to see how our big bonfire is coming on! Won't be lit for another 4 weeks, but looking good. Should keep us warm!I got a couple of cute pictures today too, of Florian and the boys.CU tomorrow

Day 42 and Day 43

I forgot to blog yesterday I was waiting on tenderhooks for Florian to get home, so I could surprise him with something that I have had to keep to myself since Tuesday, and then totally forgot. So two posts today

Friday (Day 41)
Spent most of the morning getting my surprise for Florian all clean and tidy (I still had some bits and bobs to put away). And in the afternoon Richard went to another birthday party, leaving Robert and me home alone! Robert spent a long while on the computer learning programme and today I got a picture of it. As you can see it is not a flashy "game" sort of thing, it really is all about the learning. He did so much, that I could tell by how his reading started going wrong that it was really wearing him out, bless him. But good, and fun, practise for him.

Now I'll show you what I surprised Florian with (pictures from Tuesday). My friends came round on Tuesday and we re-did our hallways.
I love it and now Florian does too!

And whilst we were at it, we did a bit of re-work in the kitchen too!Not bad, eh?!

Saturday (Day 43)
We made sure we set an alarm for 8am today, cause we were babysitting our nieces (well, that's what Florian's sister thought, but really the girls were babysitting our boys!). They were due to come at 9 - they got here about 9.25am! Oops!
The kids had a great time. I made Spaghetti and tomato sauce for lunch -nice and easy and everyone loves that, right? WRONG! Two of the girls had just spaghetti, with only parmesan on it, it looked so dry and horrible, but apparently I have since heard it is their favourite meal...oh well, each to his own!

In the afternoon Katrin and Sabine popped in too, to hear what Florian thought of their ideas and work and stayed for a while. This is my three boys after everyone had gone home (they were all worn out!)We are about to watch "24" Season 5.

oh, nearly forgot, this is what we had today...I thought or hoped that we had had our fair share in December and January...luckily after lunch the roads and paths cleared themselves, but it is still white on our garden!
CU tomorrow

Day 41

Phew today was finally just as I expected it to be and nothing to rant about! This morning it was my English class with the Kindergarden kids, today I was going to try and teach them some "body parts", we started last week by singing "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". I spent most of the morning searching for cute pictures of body parts to make them another little booklet. I never succeeded with that, but I did find a couple of pictures to colour in and made them into a jigsaw, along with a dice with the parts on it, so we could play a jigsaw game. The idea was that they could only take the part they rolled on the dice if they told me the word in English (head, arm, leg, tummy or bottom) - didn't happen today. If I am lucky I did manage to reach them on some level and they will surprise me next week, we'll see. But I still think they enjoyed it!

When I got home Posty rang, and look what he brought me!!!!It is great! In fact I was so excited about it, and no one at home to show, that I took it with me to Kindergarden to show the Kindergarden teacher!

This afternoon Richard went to a birthday party and Robert and I went to his school to see his teacher - our first parent teacher meeting. I think I got a pretty normal report for a boy, he has to learn to control his temper - apparently he gets into a few scuffs (6 to one half a dozen the other kind of thing though), he doesn't always concentrate and takes too long to do things some days (not all the time), his handwriting could be better, but really nothing awful. ANd on the good side, the teacher is really pleased with his German, and his reading is coming on in leaps and bounds. That put a big smile on my face. The only thing that I didn't really like hearing is that he plays too much Wii, apparently that shows on a Monday in his behaviour - oops!

Reading back over that it sounds more bad than good, but it wasn't, it was a good report for Robert and I am proud of him.

After that we had the afternoon to ourselves, first it was homework and then Robert wanted to make a layout and story like Richard. So far he has made a layout, apparently tomorrow is the day to write the story.

Richard got back from his party at about 7pm and it was straight to bed, he had a good time, but he will tell me more tomorrow. Sometimes he says the cutest things!
CU tomorrow

Day 40

This morning I had an appointment at the car workshop to mend the scratch that Florian put in the bumper just before the new year. (He reversed into a pile of snow, which wasn't only snow but a big stone flower pot!) Whilst I was in hospital someone from the insurance came around to assess the damage (about 800 Euros), the complete rear bumper needs replacing. Well Monday I got todays appointment for that to be fixed, and for them to check my rear lights as they haven't been working either (only on the right, so we weren't completely invisible to others).
I got there at 8.30am and was told that mmh, not sure we are expecting you for a new bumper....WHAT!...apparently that is another "department", but he would ring them and see about it, but he would look at the lights...about 30minutes later I had to sign a form so he could actually go out to the car and look at the lights. Then someone else from the other department comes and no they can't do my bumper today, cause although they have the form from the insurance, they didn't know whose car and when it was coming in...funny that, cause my call was before the fax from the insurance got there...Oh well, he took the "Colour Number" and will have the new bumper sprayed before I come in and then they will change the bumper then and there shouldn't take longer than an hour then. I'll believe that when it happens. Meanwhile the guy looking at my rear lights comes back in and says he changed the light bulb...????...why am I puzzled, well about 2 weeks ago, Florian took the car in for them to check the lights too, only then it only happened sometimes and they told him that it wasn't the bulb, but the contacts. Oh well, they changed the bulb, I paid my €1.49 and went on my way...Only took just over an hour!

Gosh what a week, feels like all I am doing is complaining, sorry!
I did have a nice afternoon, after the boys spent ages tidying up and Robert ages doing his homework, we finally made it outside (beautiful sunshine again) at 3.45pm. We had to go and get a new exercise book for Robert, post a couple of letters and I promised them that we would go to our little zoo. By the time we got there it was about 4.30pm and I really thought it was too late to go, cause the sun goes down there earlier than everywhere else...(its in a valley). But they really really wanted to go and I had promised. So then it was decision time for the boys - feed the animals or take pictures. They are MY boys - of course they took pictures (give me 30minutes then you can check their blogs for their pictures)! And I took pictures of them taking pictures!And this next fellow, was their favourite I think, he certainly had us giggling away. The boys kept saying to him "Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly" and the cockatoo kept nodding away as if to say "yes thats my name" so then the boys tried "Robert, Richard, Robert, Richard" and then the bird HONESTLY shook his head - no that's not my name! It was so funny! (but maybe you had to be there!)CU tomorrow

Day 39

What a start to the morning, the boys decided to change their TV viewing habit this morning and watched Tikkabilla instead of Billy, which is fine except, I know that when Billy finishes we have to set off for the busstop. Tikkabilla I have to switch off on time and in the middle of the show. Tikkabilla is a gret programme for kids and this morning after they had sung along and watched a documentary about snakes on it, we were pushing it a bit fine. Even more so, when they both inform me that they had left their hats in the barn yesterday....grrrr...I ran out and could only find Richard's. When I come in and grab any old hat for Robert he gets his knickers in a twist and starts crying for his hat. Now really cross I dragged him out to the barn to get his hat as he says he knows where it is - under the bumslide! Well we get out there - no hat! Goodness only knows where it is. Anyhow I rush them now to the car, and it is already 7.22am the bus leaves at 7.26! Luckily we live really close to the busstop, cause when we pull up there, the bus is already there - phew we made it. But by now Robert is crying, I tell him to stop we made it on time. Apparently I frightened him. Well hopefully now he won't waste our time getting to the busstop!
One good thing from it, I tidied up their coats and this is the pile that is now going upstairs and into their cupboard!
Work was no better either. Apparently I have a new boss, and he has been told by my old boss that "my performance is lacking" - NICE! Couldn't she have told me to my face! Oh well, enough about that.

Katrin and Sabine (and kids) came round this afternoon and cheered me up again! So I am not going to dwell on it all, and enjoy my free from work days!
CU tomorrow with less ranting - promise!

Day 38

Work this morning, and guess what on my really really old computer there I now have IE8! And that was the most exciting thing about this morning!

The sun came out this afternoon and after Robert finished his homework we were all out there making the most of it! The kids all had their bikes, but weren't really in to it, so I got a box of chalks out and here they all are decorating the road!Unfortunately at 4pm the sun hid behind our house and it got a bit chilly out, so we all had to come in, but our friends stayed til about 5pm, and Sabine carried my washing from the utility room to the lounge for me! I've got great friends!

Spent the evening watching Friends re-runs, still love it after all these years!
CU tomorrow

Day 37

I spent most of the morning working on my "free" photo book, the one I am testing the software for. I was finally satisfied with it just before lunch and the order is now done, now to see how long they take making it and getting it to me!After lunch, we went to Florian's sisters for the afternoon. The boys played upstairs with the girls and we all chatted downstairs, read the newspaper together in search of the perfect house to buy for them, don't think there was anything there, but you never know til you look!
We came back home for tea and then it was time for the boys to go to bed, and unfortunately shortly after that, Florian had to leave for down south already. His taxi picked him up at 7.30pm. So tonight I got to watch Dancing on Ice without feeling guilty about it. I have just put something called Wallander on, but I'm not sure about it, very slow (and its in three parts so I may turn over in a minute rather than waste three evenings to find out it really was rubbish - done that too many times before!)
CU tomorrow

Day 36

The boys let us have a lay in this morning. I didn't even hear them creep downstairs so it was quite a surprise when a sneeze woke me up that it was already light outside! It was nearly 9.30am so not bad!

I went shopping after breakfast and left Florian and the boys on the Wii. Then when I got home I had fresh rolls for lunch, because in the evening we went out to the Chinese for a buffet meal, delicious! Florian's sister and family came with us, it was great fun. Unfortunately the camera battery was really low and it didn't focus properly so my pictures didn't come out, but Florian took a couple on his new blackberry (a phone), this is one of Richard and his cousin playing a game.
CU tomorrow

Day 35

I really enjoyed my morning today with no one home but me! Today there was neither snow nor ice, so school and Kindergarden as planned. And I got most of the washing done (it was a bit annoying carrying it in small packages, but it is now all folded in a basket and Florian can carry it upstairs for me later.

We spent the afternoon playing the boys new games, first we did Bingo and then we played a dice/puzzle game, I had already won here so got a picture of the two of them battling for second placeThis evening I decided to watch PS I love you, oops I had forgotten how much I cried when I read the book, the film was no better, I think Florian wondered what on earth was up when he got home half way through the film...
CU tomorrow

Day 32, Day 33 and Day 34

Did you miss me?! I had a great time with my visitor, and we were so busy catching up that there was no time for blogging! So here a re-cap!

Day 32
Work in the morning, but there was no translations for me, so I spent the morning (after they fixed my system) updating the systems dictionary. I actually quite enjoyed that, was nice and easy and no silly sentence structures or made up words! Then I picked up Richard and waited for Robert to come home. I still hadn't heard from my friend, so I sent her a text message to say we were ready and waiting to set off to pick her up. I got a message straight back, that she was 5 minutes from the station. Ooops. Sorry Audrey, that you had to stand around in the cold.
We picked up rolls for lunch on our way back from the station, and the boys showed Audrey, just how many they can eat, we thought they would never stop!
We had a great time catching up, so much so, that I never got a picture! Oops! One month in and one photo down - never mind, it was still a great day

Day 33
We woke up this morning to SNOW! NOT what I was expecting at all. I had library duty, so I had to drive in it, but we got to school safely. We left Audrey having a lie in at home, and she deserved it, because to get to us, she had had to get up at 3.30am the morning before! Library was great fun. There had been a bit of a hiccup with the software so there was a bit of confusion at times, but the kids were forgiving. The kids in Robert's class all wanted books they could read themselves this week, I thought that was brilliant! Robert no longer finishes school, when I finish at the library, so he had to come home by bus. When he got home, we took Audrey to "our" restaurant. She stayed there when we got married, so it was fun for her to see it again!

In the afternoon Audrey gave us all a present. I got a lovely set of beauty products (we tried the hand cream out then and there) in a wash bag. Thank you! And the boys got a set of Lego each, one that you can make three things with. Robert can make three airplanes and Richard motorbikes. Here is Audrey "helping" Robert (its really just watching, cause he does manage without help)And here they both are with the finished results.

Day 34
Well, the snow yesterday was nothing compared to what we woke up to today! ICE and LOTS of it! I did make it to the busstop with the boys. But woah, it was slippy! We wobbled from the car to the busstop, to hear that the bus into town hadn't come, and the kids were hoping that their school bus didn't come either. We had been there about 3 minutes when a Mum that lives opposite came over to collect her son, as school was cancelled. She said it was cause the heating was broken. But when we got home and checked the internet and ALL schools in this area were cancelled today because of the ice. Richard stayed home too, he wanted to, but he could have gone to Kindergarden. I did! I left the boys with Audrey and went to give my English lesson. That also gave me a chance to check the roads again, and the actually road was wet now, so we were able to take Audrey to the station to catch her train. Phew!
Richard shed a few tears when we left her there, cause the picture he was going to paint in the afternoon was for her and now she had gone. I promised we would solve that problem, so watch out Audrey!

And here they are being very creative. I took a paint brush in my hand too, and painted a picture, I am not going to show it anywhere ever, cause you would never know I am 35 years older than them by looking at my picture. Guess I should stick to being creative with a computer!

CU tomorrow